Stocking



April 1934- c. H. HECKER 2 STOCKING Filed Feb. 7, 1933 m flyz I 1, Allnulurfifii I H H A W 1 Tu 1F m I l I I] H 10 \I I L MIMI I lwlwl II\I\I\I\ I\I I/ 1\ I INVENTOR, Q/Mfllleckez;

ORNEY Patented Apr. 17, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

My invention relates in general to hosiery for women and more'particularly to an arrangement for providing against the extra. strainincident to the use of hosiery supporting clasps and c- 5 ordinatelyinvolves an arrangement for centering the stocking about the foot of thewearer.

It is a general practice among women to employ clasps pendent from abody garment, such as a corset, to engage the stocking at the top tokeep it from falling. In a stocking having a doubledover welt, where theclasp engages the stocking in such welt portion, the doubling over ofthe material provides amply under ordinary circumstances for the strainof the garter clasp engagement. However, due to a disproportion betweenthe length of the stocking and the size of the wearer, it may frequentlyoccur that the proper support for the stocking can be attained only whenthe clasp engages the stocking at a point below the welt, and it istherefore one of the objects of my invention to provide an arrangementwhereby ample discontinuous spaced provision is made for such acontingency circumferentially about the stocking.

Clasps of the type herein referred to, are generally supported from abody supporting garment in predetermined circumferential relationshipabout the body and therefore the clasp itself will have a predeterminedcircumferential position about the leg and will correspondingly affectthe position of the stocking parts circumferentially about the leg andit therefore follows that if the clasp were improperly engaged with thestocking it will tend to spiral the stocking about the leg,

and in full fashioned stockings will cause the rear seam to beunsymmetrically positioned and for this reason I have illustrated myinvention as associated with a full fashioned stocking having such arear seam.

It is a further object of my invention to so relate and space theaforementioned clasp engaging areas circumferentially about the stockingas to have them properly related positionally in reference to the normalposition of the clasp and for this reason I show such an arrangement 'inthe form of areas symmetrically positioned with reference to the rearseam and also properly positioned with reference to the normal positionof the stocking engaging clasps.

It is a further object of my invention to so relate and space theaforementioned clasp engaging areas with reference to the doubled-overwelt, where a doubled-over welt is employed, that the position of theclasp engaging areas circumferentially about the leg will serve as aguide for a clasp engagement with the welt, and this I attain in myspecific embodiment by providing in the welt, indications as for examplecolored outlining, in vertical alignment with the clasp engaging areaswhereby the areas in the welt to be engaged by the clasps arepredetermined.

It is a still further object of my invention to so associate theaforementioned clasp engaging areas with a doubled-over welt that theseareas will serve to minimize the visual effect of the quick transitionfrom the doubled-over welt to the stocking leg.

It is a general object of my invention to provide a new and improvedstocking and a new and improved provision for garter engagement. 7!)

For the attainment of these objects and such other objects as mayhereinafter appear or be pointed out, I have illustrated severalembodiments of my invention in the drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the upper portion of a stocking,parts being broken away from the front wall to disclose the rear wall ofthe stocking;

Figure 2 is a sectional view on line 2-2 of Figure 1 looking in thedirection of the arrows;

Figure 3 is a detailed view of the construction of the fabric of thereinforced garter attachment portions of the stocking of Figure 1;

Figures 4, 5 and 6 are views similar to Figure 1 showing variousmodifications; and

Figure '7 is a sectional view on the line 7-7 of Figure 6 looking in thedirection of the arrows.

- On viewing Figures 1, 2 and 3 it will be observed that in Figure 1 Ishow the upper portion of a stocking of the full-fashioned type, havinga leg portion 10 and a welt portion 12. This welt portion is shown as ofthe doubledover type, as customary in knee length stockings. The weltand the body portions are joined by picot loops, as indicated at 14,this being also a usual construction.

I provide in the leg of the stocking at the very top and in immediateadjacency to the welt, sections 16 discontinuous from each other andspaced circumferentially about the top of the stocking leg and formed inthe manner and for the purposes now to be pointed out.

These areas 16 are formed by throwing in a reenforcing yarn preferablyof a greater number of ends than that of which the stocking leg isformed so as to provide in such areas for the increased strain incidentto clasp engagement, by a reenforcement thereof. I have found that ifthese reenforced sections 16 are made so as to taper in one directionthat the functions thereof, as above pointed out, are more eflicientlyeiiected and for purposes of narrowing down the reenforced yarn, I mayemploy an attachment known generally in the industry as a pointex"attachment. In this manner and by this arrangement I attain not only areeniorcement which will minimize the occurrence of runs, but also anarrangement which will tend to limit the extent of the runs, wheneverthey start within the sections 16.

It will be observed upon viewing Figure 2 that the sections 16 are shownas three in number and arranged one centrally of the stocking front andin opposition to the rear seam 22 and the other two positionedsymmetrically with reference to the rear seam. This positioning of thesections 16 is preferably made to cause them to register with the normalposition of the clasps as generally fixed by the body encirclinggarments from which they depend.

It will therefore be understood that regardless of which position thestocking assumes on the foot of the wearer, the engagement of thesupporting clasps with the sections 16 will result in the stocking beingheld in its proper position and unspiralled and the rear seam beingsymmetrically positioned at the rear of the leg. This arrangement willgive the additional result in that where the supporting clasps are to beengaged with the welt, the sections 16 will serve to mark the line ofclasp engagement in the welt which naturally will be in verticalalignment with and above the various sections 16, and to still furtherassist in the proper engagement of the clasp with the welt, I may employthe arrangement of Figure 4 in which there are associated with thestocking sections 36 which correspond to the sections 16 of Figure l,and an outline marking 44 in the welt, this outline marking serving toguide the wearer as to the area of clasp engagement. This outlinemarking 44 can be attained in any preferred or desired manner as forexample by introducing a color resist thread into the knittingoperation.

In this Figure 4 it will be understood that the doubled-over welt isshown at 32, the rear seam at 38, the stocking leg at 30 and the picotloops at 34.

In the arrangements of the embodiments of Figures 1 and 4, the provisionof the sections 16 and 36 respectively gives the additional result ofminimizing visually the abrupt break in the fabric structure betweenthedoubled over welt and the adjacent leg portion of the stocking, and inthis connection the tapering oi the sections 16 is of particularutility.

In the embodiment of Figure 5 I show my invention applied to what hasbeen referred to as a weltless stocking, that is, a stocking in whichthe top part 62 is not finished of! with a doubled over section, andwhile my invention can serve its purpose by sections 66 in the leg,located with reference to the picot 64 and the rear seam '72 as in theprevious embodiments, added advantages are attainable by duplicatingthese sections in the single welt section 62 above the picot 64, asshown at 68.

In Figure 6 I show a further variation of my invention in which in astocking having for example a doubled welt 32', the rear seam 38, thefabric structure 40', the leg section 30, and the picot row 34', thesections 48 below the welt correspond to the sections 16 in Figure l inall respects, except that the tapering section is inverted and arrangedapex up, and for purposes of showing further applications of myinvention; I have associated with the sections 48' below the welt,correspondingly shaped sections 50 above the welt, except that the twogroups of sections are arranged with the apices in contacting relation.

In all of the above embodiments it will be observed that the sections 16of Figure 1 and the corresponding sections of the other embodiments areall disconnected circumterentially about the stocking leg running intothe picot row which separates the stocking leg from the fabric above itand are predeterminedly positioned circumferentially about the leg.

Having thus described my invention and illustrated its use, what I claimas new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In a stocking having a leg portion and a denbled-over welt portionadapted for the attachment of garter clasps thereto at any pointthereof, three tapered reinforced sections below said welt, butimmediately adjacent thereto, said sections being spacedcircumferentially from each other, and being adapted to receive garterclasps, and to indicate the preferred points of attachment of thegarters, both within the welt and below the welt, one of said sectionsbeing located centrally at the front of the stocking and two of saidsections being located at the rear of the stocking and spaced laterallyand symmetrically in relation to the rear seam.

CYRUS H. HECKER.

